DaBaby Apologizes For "Hurtful And Triggering" Homophobic Comments

DaBaby has been suffering serious career fallout in the eight days since his homophobic rant onstage at the Rolling Loud festival in Miami, when he expressed solidarity with fans who “didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two to three weeks” and weren’t “sucking dick in the parking lot.” The Charlotte rapper’s first attempts at damage control a week ago devolved into further stereotyping that only dug him deeper into his hole, and his attempt at an apology Wednesday was really more of a self-defense.

In the past week he’s been dropped from the lineup of several major festivals including Manchester’s Parklife, Chicago’s Lollapalooza, New York’s Governors Ball, and Las Vegas’ Day N Vegas. He also faced condemnation from Dua Lipa, who teamed with him on the #2-peaking single “Levitating.” (The original DaBaby-free version of “Levitating” has been making its way back into rotation.)

Now, via his Instagram, DaBaby has posted another apology. This one is his least defensive effort so far, though there’s still a heavy dose of self-pity in it from the jump. Here’s how it reads:

Social media moves so fast that people want to demolish you before you even have the opportunity to grow, educate, and learn from your mistakes. As a man who has had to make his way from very difficult circumstances, having people I know publicly working against me — knowing that what I needed was education and guidance — has been challenging. I appreciate the many people who came to me with kindness, who reached out to me privately to offer wisdom, education, and resources. That’s what I needed and it was received.

I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and and triggering comments I made. Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important. Love to all. God bless.

-DaBaby